Blood ties
by DakotaDaydreamer
Summary: Raia Wildwood is a vampire hunter just starting a new assignment as a guardian at a school her uncle runs for vampires and humans, a risky gamble. Crappy summary, but good story.
1. Beginnings

**Welcome everyone! This story has been one of my most-worked on for a very long time and I'm very happy to see it posted up now. Hopefully you all enjoy it! **

**Blood Ties**

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Mom asked as she shifted our black Ford Taurus into park in front of Ashworth Academy's enormous wrought-iron gates.

"I can't just turn down an invitation like this," I reminded her as I unbuckled my seatbelt. My own mother was being even more hesitant about this than I was. "I know," she sighed, her violet eyes still sad. "Mom, it's okay. I'll be with Uncle, remember?" I said, with an attempt at a reassuring smile. I took one last glance at her before I clicked the latch of the door open.

She was dressed for an assignment, a worn trench coat over a white long-sleeved shirt, sturdy jeans, and tough steel-toed boots. I'd never seen her dress like a regular housewife ever, and that was clearly not about to start. Mom brushed her brown hair out of her eyes. "Good luck," she said with a half-hearted attempt at a smile.

I smiled halfway, only somewhat more successful than she had been at achieveing it. "Thanks. I'll call you guys later okay?" I told her as I got out of the car. She nodded and smiled a little wider this time, comforted by my words. walked around back, and wrestled my enormous, rose vine-painted suitcase out of the trunk, and tried to reach the top part of the trunk so I close it, stretching as high as I possibly could to better reach it. Then I went and stood in front of the gates and waited for them to open, the school's enormous silhouette looming in front of me. Mom pulled the car out of the driveway, waving good-bye as she drove away. I stood and watched her leave, alone in the brisk morning.

Why exactly am I standing in front of the gates of Ashworth, _the_ most expensive and exclusive school there is, you ask? Well for starters, my uncle runs this place. But you should know that Ashworth isn't your average school (first of all, its HUGE! Not exactly something you would expect to be outside the sleepy little suburb of Little Falls, New York.), but the main reason is that it's primarily a school for vampires (Yes, you read the words right, I did say "vampires".)

Well, there are a few humans, but mostly they don't know the school's true intention. Either that or they're Hunters.

And I don't mean camouflage-wearing, shot-gun toting game hunters. We're talking genuine _vampire_ hunters here.

This is where I come in.

My name is Raya Wildwood, and I'm fifteen years old, almost 16. (My sixteenth birthday is in two weeks) I'm five-foot-three (rather short by Hunter standards) and my hair is a chocolate brown. My eyes are a vibrant purple –a common color in my family. I'm a member of a clan of vampire hunters, and my parents, Jana and Ryan Wildwood, are two of the top hunters right now. My older brother Conrad also is a fully-fledged Hunter at age 19.

As for me, I'm still an apprentice, which means that I still don't have my own gun and can't take on official assignments commissioned by the Council of Twelve, the "bigwigs" of my world.

Because of this fact, Apprentices like me usually get assigned things like escorts for government officials (No one is a better bodyguard than a Hunter) or rarely guardianship duties at academies like Ashworth. These assignments are very hard to come by, and my uncle who works here as headmaster offered me a post as a guardian here so I could finish my training. As with tradition, I won't be an official Hunter until after my sixteenth birthday in two weeks and my coming-of-age ceremony shortly after that day. Then I'll be able to be a full member of my clan and an official Hunter with my own gun and license.

You see, we Hunters make our money by getting rid of psycho vampires. You know the ones that lose their minds and attack humans? Those vampires are put on an execution list by the Hunter's Council and from there, the Hunters take over, executing the vampires at the top of the list first and continuing down. Usually we try to get the job done as quickly and quietly as possible. A vampire dropping into a square filled with people who are'nt supposed to know that vampires even exist does _not_ make us look good at all. Assignments are sometimes very hard to complete though, because these vampires have usually lost all sense of reason and are very unpredicable. My parents work together to complete their assignments. My mother was on her way to meet my father on their next "job" when she dropped me off here.

As for Uncle, he's a retired Hunter. Instead of taking part in the "family business" he spends his day sipping tea and hot chocolate in the comfort of his office. He thinks that humans and vampires can live in peace, so he started Ashworth Academy. In a while back he was one of the absolute best Hunters in the business, but these days he's an absolute softie.

The rest of us spend our time secretly protecting the human race from psycho vamps and trying to keep their existence a secret, which isn't always that easy.

Not all vampires are crazy, though. Certain vampires (those that were born vampires, not the ones who used to be human) have many powers and long, seemingly infinite lifespans. They age very slowly, and seem strangely beautiful to the average human eye. Ashworth was intended to educate young vampires and make co-existence between humans and vampires easier. Older vampires, unknown too many humans, hold very important political offices.

Anyway, that's the explanation of why exactly I'm here and what I am.

Finally, the wrought iron gates creaked slowly open and I walked into the elaborate courtyard in front of my enormous new school.

I pushed open the heavy wooden double doors that led inside, lugged my suitcase up a sparkling white marble staircase, and down a large hallway before I found Uncle's office. I stared at the heavy rose-carved mahogany doors and took a deep breath before I pushed them wide open, the start of a new chapter of my life on the other side.

**Annnnd... Cut!**

**There we go! Bloodties has officially made its debut! finally!**

**Hopefully you all enjoyed this first chapter, and will stick with us in the long run. **

**Sorry I had to cut this chap off a little short, but the next one will be longer, I promise. **

**I did have to change her name from "Raia" to "Raya," because I liked the spelling better. Story's gonna stay the same though. **

**Anyway, stick around for the next chapter-"Reunions"**

**Please review! It makes me write and post faster!**

**Love always,**

**~Dakota**


	2. Reunion and Assignment

**And so, without further ado-**

**Chapter 2- Reunion and assignment!**

Once I was inside, a bizarre sight met my eyes, even more bizarre than normal.

Uncle was seated on the floor in a trench coat, (NOT a standard Hunter's coat like my parents wore! He wore it with a frilly pink scarf!), sitting on the floor cooking squid over a portable charcoal grill, arguing with a tall bronze-haired boy.

"Really, Kain, please calm down!" my squid-cooking uncle insisted. "But-" the boy began, but Uncle cut him off mid-sentance.

"Raya! You're here!" Uncle exclaimed, cutting him off.

"Uh, hi, Uncle." I hesitated. The tall boy turned his steely emerald green gaze on me and stared for a few seconds. Then the weirdest thing happened; He _smiled_. I stared back dumbly for a couple seconds completely awestruck, then something, an old memory from far too long ago, clicked and I gasped. It couldn't be, I thought. All those years...

"Kain? How are you?" I exclaimed and Kain laughed, green eyes full of happiness and laughter instead of the steely numbness that filled them the last time I'd seen him.

"Hey, Raia," he chuckled lightly, his hands in his pockets.

I dropped my bags on the ground and ran forward.

"Raya! My darling niece!" Uncle opened his arms expectantly for a hug, but I ran forward and threw my arms around Kain instead.

I believe a little of explaining is in order. You see, I've known Kain for years, we grew up together. It just took me a little while to recognize him. Our parents were good friends and whenever his parents had and assignment, he was always at our house. They were in the same business as us, Hunting. The same applied to me; I was almost always over at their house. It was pretty much a second home to me. The halls of his house were almost more familiar than my own.

Back then Kain had been like a brother to me, my best friend. A lot had changed since his parent's tragic deaths a few years ago, but he hadn't changed too terrible much. True, he was now more than a foot taller and his face had lost most of its childhood roundness, but his beautiful emerald eyes still had that same old gleam.

Kain put his arms around me softly. "I missed you," he murmured in my ear softly, sending shivers down my spine. But they were good shivers, the happy kind, not the quaking-in-fear-omg-don't-kill-me-kind.

"I missed you, too." I told him happily and I couldn't help sighing. His scent-an intoxicating mixture Pine and cinnamon-was so very familiar, and brought back so many memories. We stood there like that for a few minute, Kain holding me tight, me clinging to him. I would have gladly stood there even longer if Uncle hadn't been there.

"Ah-HM!" Uncle coughed loudly, reminding us of his presence, and I quickly bringing me crashing back to earth. I took a hasty step away from Kain, breaking our embrace and blushed. I tried to step a little bit farther away from him, but Kain's arm wound around my waist, preventing me from moving very far.

"Welcome, Raya. Sorry, but you and Kain will have to catch up later. I'm probably taking a wild guess here, but the news that he's your partner for this assignment is definetely a good thing right?" Uncle asked with a smile as he looked from my crimson, blushing face to Kain's calm and collected one beside me. He went and sat back behind his desk before gesturing at a stack of neatly folded black and blue fabric sitting on the corner of his desk. "Here's your uniform, hopefully it fits, but I'm pretty sure it will. And I believe you will be staying in the Cinder dorm, correct?"

I nodded. "Do you have a map of the campus? I've never been inside the school before."

Uncle shook his head. "You're not going cross-campus by yourself. It's a long way, and you'd probably get lost."

He looked at Kain meaningfully, the hint obvious as a crimson splatter of paint against an ivory wall. "RIGHT, Kain? We wouldn't want our precious little Raya getting lost, now would we? _Especially _now that you two are partners and are supposed to watch out for each other," he hinted.

Kain sighed crabbily, Uncle's severely subtle hint taken. "Fine. I'll help," He sighed. "Raya has absolutely no sense of direction. She'd be lost in two seconds around here," he chuckled. "Hey! I've got a better sense of direction than you do!" I reminded him.

"Yeah, but you don't know the grounds here. Plus, you can't tell north from south."

"Shut up! Can too!"

"Prove it."

I couldn't say or do anything to prove him wrong and he knew it. All he did was laugh. "And that's why I'm taking you to the dorms. There's no way I'm letting you get lost the first day," he laughed. All I could do was stick out my tongue at him.

"Good." Uncle took a sip of hot chocolate from his steaming mug, the words '1# Headmaster emblazoned on the side of the mug in bright, neon orange.

"Now as far as duties go around here…" Uncle trailed off after setting down his mug and began digging furiously through his desk, causing packs of hot chocolate to fly through the air like little missles.

"Ah, _here_ it is!" he exclaimed finally as he produced a small dagger about four inches long from the depths of the desk and held it out to me. I took it from him cautiously and slid it out of its sheath, relieved when it didn't turn into a bouquet of flowers or a flock of doves. Uncle had a reputation for being a trickster. It was obviously very well made, beautiful, intricate metal roses and vines were woven delicately into the metal of the hilt, creating a fragilly beautiful design. The Hunter's crest (a crimson crescent moon) was engraved at the tip of the blade. "Um, isn't this a little too _delicate_ to be a Hunter's blade?" I asked Uncle uncertainly.

He just waved off my worries. "Don't worry about that. There's a charm on it to make it stronger than normal. That little thing is practically indistructable."

"Of course you still get your own gun when you turn 16, but until then this will have to do. You can use it to fight off any vampire that attacks the students here. Why don't you give it a few practice swings? It should turn into any blade you want it to if you focus on the dagger and picture what you need in your mind,"

I shrugged and gave it a try, picturing a short sword in my mind. Immidiately the little dagger in my hand glowed quadrupled in size until it was the length I wanted, its tip sharp and tapered, crest glowing bright crimson. "Not bad Uncle. I like it. But how do I make it tiny again? I can't really carry it around like this," I said cuiously.

"Put your hand over the crest at the tip and slide it down the blade to the hilt."

"Oh, okay," I said as I followed his instructions, the blade shrinking down to its original size in my hand.

"Consider it an early birthday present, or as a welcoming gift for our newest member of the Flames. Kain can make due with his gun," he chuckled.

My mouth dropped immediately as I turned to look at Kain. "You're 16 already?" I asked in disbelief. I never missed his birthday before! He just smirked at me. "Yeah, last month actually. You missed it."

"Oh. Sorry," I said. I'd know him for close to 15 years, my whole life pretty much, and I'd never forgot his birthday 'til now! Not good.

Just then the black cat clock on the wall began meowing the hour, interrupting my thoughts. "ME-ow, ME-ow, ME-ow, ME-ow, ME-ow, ME-ow, ME-ow, ME-ow," It chimed cheerily, annoucing in its severely annoying was that it was 8'oclock. "It's almost orientation, you two. You better get going." Uncle told us as he began stashing his hot chocolate back in his desk again. "You wouldn't want to miss it now would you?"

"Fine," Kain said, laughing as I groaned. "Let's go Fireball." Kain chuckled and grabbed my suitcase. "Hey! Wait for me!" I yelled and grabbed my backpack. I finally caught up with him on the stairs. "You, know not all of us have such freakishly long legs!" I reminded him. He laughed and shook his head before he started down the hall again and once again, I ran to catch up with my partner, something I'd been missing for a very long time.

This Assignment wasn't going to be so bad after all.

**And there we go! **

**As always, make sure you review! it makes me upload faster.**

**Love always,**

**~Dakota**


	3. room mates

**Hey all! I'm so very very sorry that It's taken me forever to update this! Kain's been staring me down this whole time, demanding that I hurry up and get this published. So without further delay:**

**Blood ties: Room mates**

* * *

"So which way are the dorms?" I panted when I finally caught up with Kain again as he walked along the sidewalk, my suitcase in hand. Catching up to him had been a little difficult because one of his steps was about two of mine due to the height difference between us. "Over there," he said scornfully pointing to a monstrosity of a building off to the right. "That's the Ember dorm over there, where the leeches live."

Here's another spot I think I should stop and explain things. Kain absolutely _hates_ vampires, and has ever since we were little Hunter-lings at the Academy together. Honestly I can't say I blame him. You see, a few years ago on one hot and bloody August night, his parents were murdered by a vampire that attacked their home, and Kain was the only surviver. My parents found him covered in his parents' blood, but unharmed, even after the vampire murdered them in front of him. How the vampire that attacked his family found out the location of his home is a mystery to this day, because Hunters usually keep our residences secret.

When I turned to look in the direction he was pointing, I expected to see a small little brick building with a cute little courtyard and a little old sign in the front proclaiming the building was the Ashworth Academy Ember dorm, like a normal boarding school would have. But instead I saw a monstrosity of the building that reminded me exactly how much money the vampires I was dealing with had.

The Ember dorm was absolutely beautiful with its gold gate topped by twisted metal shapes that looked flames of metal across the top blocking the entrance on the far end of the campus courtyard and a beautiful fountain behind its gates. Two wings stood off on either side of it buillding,no doubt for the boys and girls wings, and the grounds inside the walls were immaculate. Guilded gothic windows looked out over the school grounds from the dorms walls, like the building itself was watching over everyone who walked past it.

"So where are our dorms?" I inquired, turning away from the beautiful gargantuan Ember dorms. If this was how the vampires lived, how did the human dorms—known to students as the Cinder dorms—look? I had no idea what to expect.

"Across the campus, all the way at the west gate. We wanted to get those leeches as far away from the human dorms as possible," Kain said casually as he walked along next to me, his strides slower to accommodate my short legs.

"Well, it worked," I said surprised. "They might as well be in separate countries! These grounds are huge! Its gonna take forever to get to class on time!"

"Don't forget we have to be up even earlier than everyone else. We have our guardian duties here too, and God knows it isn't gonna be easy. Those stupid Cinder girls make our jobs ten times harder than they need to be."

"Is it really that bad?"

"You have no idea how much they drool over those bloodsuckers. They think they're the best thing since sliced bread, I swear. If they only knew the truth," he said with a sarcastic smirk. We walked along in silence for a few minutes as I took in all the parts of my new home, committing everything to memory as I went. If I had to patrol these areas, I was going to need to remember as much as I possibly could.

We passed a few human students still in their street clothes on their way to the auditorium as we walked, and only a few of them called out to talk to us. "Hey Blackstone, where'd ya get the girl?" one blonde kid called out loudly, his tone cocky.

The look Kain gave him in response could have frozen lava and obviously intimidated the boy. He probably wasn't used to anything less than the awestruck looks he got from anyone else that met him and figured out he had money. He just watched us walk away with a confused look on his face. I have to admit, it was very hard not to laugh at him. It was hilarious!

"Hey, Raya," Kain said after we'd walked in silence for a few moments. "Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm? Sure, shoot."

"Why did you take this assignment?" He glanced at me, emerald eyes questioning. "Well," I said after thinking a moment. "It's a good oppurtunity, and assignments like this don't come around very often. Besides," I smirked at him. "Someone had to make sure you kept that temper under control. I know how you get. Any other Hunter wouldv'e turned tail and run the second they tried to wake you up in the morning."

"Says the girl who nearly killed that kid back at the academy after he tried stealing your Resse's cup!" He exclaimed. "He had that coming! Nobody steals my chocolatly-peanut-buttery goodness!" I argued back. Kain just laughed. "Conrad's got it tough. What a stubborn girl! Glad your'e not my sister!" Here I stuck my tongue out at him like the immature girl I was, and he laughed harder. "Either way," he said, serious now. "I'm glad your'e here. I wouldn't have had anyone else to talk to otherwise."

"No one else would put up with you idiot."

And so we kept this up for a while as we walked, bantering back and forth just like old times.

When we finally reached the Cinder dorms, I was a little out of breath, the walk accross campus was waay longer than I originally expected. Kain didn't seem to have the same problem though. Like their Ember counterparts, the Cinder dorms were impressive buildings. Surrounded by a high gilded silver fence around the buildings, and surrounded by a gorgeous garden filled with exotic flowers I'd never seen before, they were pretty impressive. True, they couldn't even hold a candle to the Ember dorms' beauty, but still.

I followed Kain through the gates into the courtyard and up to the arched gothic doorway and its heavy wooden door. With one fluid motion, he reached out and pulled the heavy door wide open and we both walked in; the door closing with a soft thud behind us. I found myself in the Cinder dorm common room between the boys' and girls' wings of the Dorms.

As expected, it was full of human kids sitting around talking in groups, majority of them clad in designer labels. I couldn't help but feel self-concious in my worn jeans, plain black t-shirt, and Hunter's boots. Kain, on the other hand, didn't hesitate for a minute and walked right on through fearlessly, like he owned the place. I hesitated for a minute, and seeing this, Kain reached out and grabbed my hand before pulling him with me, and I flushed beet red for the second time that day.

"Hey Kain!" A beautiful blonde girl called to him from accross the room. "Why don't you come and sit with us?" One of Kain's patented glares silenced her immidiatly. He just continued down the hall and up the stairs, my small hand still engulfed in his rough, calloused one.

"Ten, eleven, twelve," He muttered under his breath as he read the brass numbers printed on the dorm doors. Meanwhile, I was still trying to wrap my head around the circumstances and the fact that Kain was indeed holding my hand, so honestly, I was still in a state of shock. Hell had officially frozen over, it seemed.

We came to a stop in front of dorm fifteen and he turned to look down at me. "Well, this is it," He said softly, the edge in his eyes gone, replaced by something I couldn't name. He smiled a little and opened his mouth to say something to me, but he never got the chance. The door behind into my room opened wide to reveal a blonde girl my age with bright blue eyes staring straight at us. It mustv'e been quite a sight, seeing the two Flame Gaurdians standing in the hall, staring at each other like a couple of idiots, and holding hands to boot!

"OMG I know who you are!" the girl exclaimed excitedly, blue eyes shining. "Your'e Raya!" I just blinked and nodded slowly, wondering how the heck this girl knew my name. "That's sooo AWESOME! I'm Bunny, your new roommate!" She continued without even taking a breath. "This is gonna be GREAT! We're gonna have sooo much fun!" And so she set off, talking way too fast for me to even understand and launching a thousand questions at me all at once. I found myself just nodding along, not having a clue what I was agreeing too.

Still babbling away happily, Bunny reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling me into our dorm with more force that I wouldv'e thought a tiny girl like her was capeable and dragging Kain along with me. I shot him a pleading look over my shoulder, hoping he'd know what to do, but he looked just as stunned as I felt. Then Bunny realized that Kain was still there, and attached to my arm, and turned her endless tide of chatter at him. "Well hey don't just stand there starin'!" She exclaimed, gesturing to my suitcase on the ground. "Why don't you bring that stuff in?"

Bunny's question seemed to bring him crashing back to Earth and he did as he was directed, bringing it inside. "You can set those in there," she chirruped brightly, pointing to a closed door on the left-probably my room-before starting a fresh round of chatter. Still nodding along, I took the opputunity to get a good look at what was to become my home away from home in the coming months.

By Ashworth standards, it was realtively simple. A small kitchette stood off at the front of the room, complete with a few little cabinets, snacks scattered here and there, and a stir fry wok. Three doors stood off on either sides of the room-probably our bedrooms. A mini living room complete with two big suede couches, a low coffee table, and a flat screen tv stood in the center of the room. The carpets were deep burgundy, matching the curtains that veiled the enourmous floor-to-ceiling picture window on the west side of the room.

"What's all the racket about?" came a girls' irritated voice from the kitchen. "What the heck is going on out there?"

"Our new roomie's here Shina!" Bunny called back happily.

"Really?" The voice-Shina?-asked, sounding more curious than annoyed now. A carbon copy of Bunny dressed from head to toe in black-complete with black lipstick-with thick soled boots that went to her knees stepped out of the kitchen and took in the crazy scene before her. Appearently I was rooming with a set of twins, and if they both talked like Bunny, I was in trouble.

"So this is the latest fresh meat, huh?" Shina asked as she looked me up and down before shrugging her shoulders and . "Let's see how long she lasts." She turned and went back to the kitchen. Bunny sighed saddly and shook her head. "That's Shina, my twin sister and our other roommate. She's not that bad once you get to know her, I promise. She's just a little...different."

I nodded again like I understood. "Raya," Kain began as he came out of my room and walked to me and Bunny, looking from me to my chatterbox roommate and forcing a smile. "Look, I'll see you later, okay? And don't forget to come do our Flame stuff later," he said. "I'm gonna get out of here for now." I nodded and smiled, "Later then," was all I said as I watched him walk away, but he didn't get very far before he turned around again.

"One more thing," he said walking back to where I stood and standing next to me, his hand reaching out to caress my face lightly, making me blush for the third time that day. "Stay out of trouble, okay?" He whispered softly in my ear. "Don't make me worry so much." He drew back and walked away, pausing before opening the door to smile at me over his shoulder, and then leaving.

I was froze to the spot, my thoughts chasing themselves around my head, my mouth absolutely froze, heart pounding like a drum, incapeable of saying a single word. All I could do was shake my head and attempt clear my thoughts. Bunny, who'd been silent the whole time, chose this time to remind me of her presence.

"So, who was that exactly?" Bunny demanded, her curious blue eyes boring into me. " Is there a little somethin' going on here?" She winked.

"No, no, no! Of course not! Kain and I are only _friends_." I said quickly deniying it, cursing my red face. Bunny didn't buy it for a minute. "Ah, I see now. _Only_ friends, eh?" she said with a wide grin and I quickly changed the subject.

"So, where are you guys from?" I inquired. She laughed and plopped down on the large brown leather sofa and shook her head. "Changing the subject, huh?" She laughed. "Man you two really got it bad, don't you?"

"Um," I said, searching my mind for something, anything, that would get her off the subject of me and Kain. "So is your name really 'Bunny?'" I inquired, praying that she would take the bait.

Luckily for me, the Man Upstairs was looking out for me and decided to answer my prayers.

Bunny shook her head and smiled. "No, people call me that because they saw me hyped up on an energy drink one day. So now every body calls me 'Bunny.' Like the energizer bunny, 'ya know? My real name's actually Sophia, but I don't know that people are talking to me when they call me that," She laughed and walked over to the coffee table before grabbing a starbucks cappuccino cup off its coaster on the table and taking a long swing. She paused only to lick the whipped cream off around her mouth.

Her twin-the ever-cheerful Shina-finally emerged from the kitchen, grilled cheese sandwich and a can of Coke in hand, and walked accross the room. She set the sandwich on the coffee table and folded herself into the armchair across from Bunny, the many silver bangles on her wrist jingling. She turned blue gaze on me, more serious than I thought Bunny was even capeable of. "Sorry I bit your head off earlier. Denial, sappy emotions, and denial of having sappy emotions annoy me tremendiously," She said as she took a swig of her coke.

"Denial?" I asked, officially confused. Shina rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to explain, but Bunny cut her off before she could say anything. "Hey, we're gonna be late for that orientation thingy we're supposed to be at I think!" She exclaimed excitedly and jumped up off the couch, grabbing my arm, and pulling me out the door with her in the process. "Come on Shina!" She called behind us to her twin sister, still seated on the couch. Shina rolled her eyes and got up from the couch, closing the door before following us down the hall. Apparently she was used to this sort of thing from her zealous twin.

And so for the second time that day, I found myself running to keep up with someone.

* * *

**And there we go! now, hopefully I get the next chapter updated soon! This is completely random, but I'm beginning to notice how often I use twins in my stories, and its a lot more than i thought. Oh well. If I ever get my other stories loaded up here, You'll see what I mean.**

**Anyhow~**

**Review! As is I have only one reviewer-the ever-amazing-Fang16Max! Check out her stories! Theyr'e awesome!**

**That being said, Love you guys always!**

**your daydreamer,**

**~Dakota**


	4. Orientation

**I honestly don't have very much to say as for this chapter, so I'm going to skip right to the point.**

**Blood ties: Orientation**

**

* * *

**

"Bunny, do you even know where you're going?" I yelled as Bunny drug me down the sidewalk. "Of course I do!: she called back over her shoulder with a grin, slowing her pace slightly. "Where's the auditorium then?" I panted, trying to catch my breath. "Right over there," Bunny chirped brightly, pointing to an enormous brick building with high arched doorways and a heavy double door looming in front of us. "Bun, let the poor girl catch her breath!" Shina chided her hyper twin as she caught up with us.

"Why the heck does everything have to be so dang _fancy _here?" I protested to my two roommates, throwing my arms in the air in exasperation. I was honestly getting sick of all the finery I was surrounded by everywhere I went. And if you thought the dorms were fancy, you should see the auditorium. Italian columns surrounded the side of the building, carved with intricate swirls and flowers. A few little cupids looked down on people walking through the doorways below with eyes of stone as they strummed the stone lyers in their hands.

Inside was equally spectacular. At the front of the room was a beautiful stage, complete with closed red velvet curtains and blinding spotlights. Groups of wealthy students sat in the velvet stadium-style seating socializing like normal teenagers. From what I could see and sense, (Hunter senses are some of the sharpest there are, especially mine) they were all 100% human, not a drop of vampire blood in any of them.

Shina decided on some seats in the back of the room, right next to the doorway, and that's where we wound up sitting down. Bunny kept up her usual chatter as we sat there, and of course, I nodded along as I looked around the room. I noticed there was a rather random gothic gargoyle perched at the top of the stage, and the more I stared at it, the weirder it seemed.

I turned to ask Shina about it, but was quickly stopped when I felt a strong hand suddenly touch the side of my face and turn my head. "Well, well, well, look who doesn't have her bodyguard around," a deep voice purred in my ear, and I found myself looking straight into the blue eyes of the boy Kain had glared down earlier. He was far too close for comfort, his face only inches away from mine. If he leaned in any closer, I'd be kissing him. "Well aren't you just a cute little thing," He murmured with a smirk. "Your boy Kain's gonna be real mad if I do this," he smirked as he leaned in closer. "Get off me!" I yelled, thinking fast as I swung out and slapped him across the side of his irritating face with every ounce of strength I had, which since I'm a Hunter, is a lot.

A normal human shouldv'e gone flying and at least hit the wall, if not flown completely through it, but he just lost his balance and staggered a few steps away. "Feisty, I see," He said as he raised his hand to his bright red cheek. "I like that."

Bunny and Shina were absolutely speechless. Whoever this kid was, they didn't know him any better than I did, and were probably just as shocked about the whole thing. Adrenaline was still pulsing through my veins after using my Hunter skills, and I was ready to smack him into oblivion if he tried anything else, but there was no need.

Kain, better late than never, had materialized out of nowhere, and he was madder than hell. "What the hell do you think you're doing to Raya, Hawthorn?" He growled in the other boy's face, his fist's knotted in the front of the creep's white shirt, holding him in the air. "I wasn't doing anything. Settle down Blackstone, before that anger of yours gets the better of you," he said with a smirk and de-tangled himself from Kain's grip. "For future reference," He said looking back at me for a few moments before turning his gaze back to Kain. "You may want to keep a closer eye on your precious little girl from now on, if she means so much to you." And with that, he turned and walked away without another word.

Kain watched him leave through narrowed steely green eyes, a scowl dark scowl marring his features. Then he sighed and walked over to where we were sitting, sliding into the chair beside me. "I can't leave you alone for ten minutes, can I?" he muttered under his breath, propping his head up with his left arm so he could see me better. "Huh?" I questioned him. He didn't get a chance to answer, however, because just then the red velvet curtains veiling the stage slowly began to rise and the noise in the room settled down to a murmur here and there.

A handsome boy with black hair and shockingly vibrant blue eyes and a microphone in his hand walked across the stage, and I saw Kain stiffen beside me out of the corner of the my eye. "Good evening everyone," the boy onstage said smoothly, the black microphone inches from his mouth.

Immediately, the girls in the audience went wild, cheering, yelling, screaming, and catcalling like a bunch of fan girls at a rock concert instead of high school girls at their high school orientation. I rolled my eyes and sighed, taking a deep breath, unsurprised at the hint of vampire scent that hit the roof of my mouth. The boy onstage was a vampire, no doubt about it. No wonder Kain was on edge.

Of course, under the spotlights, the vampire boy was oblivious to the angry aura radiating from our corner of the room, and he smiled as then Cinder girls cheered and screamed, laughing lightly before continuing his introduction in his same smooth tone.

"I'm Jared Larson, Ember class and dorm vice president, nice to meet you." Here he grinned widely, showing all his teeth in a smile that would've made a dentist cry in happiness. Only Kain and I were aware of the fact that his incisors seemed to be a few millimeters longer than the average person's. "Now, who's ready for a great new semester?" he asked everyone, grinning again at the screams and cheers that resulted from the Cinder girls, who seemed to think he was a rock star or something along those lines.

The boys, however, seemed to be thinking the exact opposite. They sat bored in their seats, some surveying the ceiling, texting, listening to their iPods, even sleeping. They couldn't compete with the Ember boys' vampire beauty when it came to looks, it just wasn't even much of a comparison. All of the Cinder boys were bored out of their minds, I knew without a doubt. Except for Kain, whose stormy green gaze was fixed glaring at the stage, as if he could light it on fire with pure dislike.

Onstage, Jared was joined by a tall, even more handsome amber-eyed blonde boy. He was obviously a vampire, but something was different about him, but I couldn't figure out what. He certainly wasn't dressed like Jared, who was in artfully-faded designer jeans and a t-shirt that probably cost more than my whole wardrobe combined. Instead, a black t-shirt, holey jeans, and a silver cross medallion painted a very different image from that of the other vampires onstage, mostly clad in designer labels. Despite that, he moved with a certain grace and had a certain air about him that commanded respect from the other vampires clustered in the shadows at the back of the stage.

Turning quickly to him, Jared bowed to him once and turned back to us, his customary grin still in place and introduced the boy next to him. "Now I have the pleasure of turning the microphone over to one of the people who worked tirelessly to make this event happen, our Ember class president, Nathanial Bryson," He gestured to the boy next to him and bowed once more before handing over the microphone and stepping back.

Nathanial nodded to him like a king accepting something from a servant and took the stage. He surveyed all of us in the stands almost regally, the way a king observes his subjects. And when he spoke, his voice was mesmerizing low and velvety. "Really, I can not take all the credit. Most of it belongs to our wonderful Flames. They work round the clock to set up events like this," he paused and looked out through the crowd, as if searching for something or someone. "Raya? Kain? Where are you two?" He asked, and a large spotlight swept the crowd, searching until it caught me and Kain in its blinding light. "Why don't you two come up and say a few words?" Nathanial asked, and immediately I felt myself get picked up and crowd surfed to the front of the room by a crowd of crazed fan girls mesmerized by Nathanial's very presence.

They left Kain alone, however, and he just walked to the stage himself, on his own two feet. Lucky jerk.

I was pushed and shoved around so much that by the time I finally reached the stage, my sense of balance was completely screwed up. Because of this, when I reached the front of the room and tried to climb on the stage through some small stairs, I tripped.

Not an ordinary trip either, which would've been embarrassing enough. No, instead I fell _up_ the stairs. Not down, _up_.

The strong arms that caught me were familiar, to say the least, as was the pine-cinnamon scent that accompanied them. "You should be more careful," Kain murmured in my ear, sending tingling warmth down my spine and through the rest of my body. Immediately, my face flushed fire-engine red, for the fourth time that day.

In front of the _entire _student body, both human and vampire.

Kain released me and I stepped back and took a deep breath in an unsuccessful attempt to clear all the fuzziness that suddenly seemed to fill my head. Oblivious to all this, Nathanial turned to us expectantly. "Anything you'd like to say?" He asked, handing the microphone to Kain. For a brief moment, they locked eyes and tension flared between them as Kain took it from his hand.

And then quickly handed it off to me without a second thought. I looked around for someone else _I_ could hand it off to, but there was no-one. "What? Why me?" I began to protest, but Jared simply ignored me and shoved me into the spotlight. "What should I say?" I pleaded, hoping that maybe he'd just take the stupid thing from me, but I was out of luck. Jared shrugged impassively. "Just say whatever you want," He advised and stepped back, leaving me alone on the stage.

As I stared out at the crowd, my mind drew a complete and total blank. I couldn't think of anything. I closed my eyes and tried gathering my thoughts, praying that I could make sense of my scrambled consciousness as quickly as I could.

Hoping for the best, I opened my eyes and surveyed the group in front of me. "Well, hello everyone," I greeted them lamely, trying to keep my voice steady. "I'm Raia Wildwood, um, one of the Flames. And that's my partner Kain over there, you know him," I gestured to said Hunter behind me before continuing. "And as you know, we're your Flames this year. We hope we can all have some fun and have a good year, and…" my voice trailed off as my mind went blank yet again, and I smiled (or attempted to anyway) before quickly stepping out of the spotlight and handing the dreaded microphone back to Jared, who handed it to Nathanial.

A few teachers then stepped up and started telling us their little spheal, like how we were supposed to wear our uniforms, class times, curfew, and a few other things. It was boring. Not even the teachers know the real story behind the Ember class here at Ashworth, despite the fact that both Ember and Cinder take the same classes during the day. Only Uncle, Kain and I (and of course the vampires) know the real truth. Nevertheless, they finished up quickly and then turned things back over to us, handing off the microphone yet again.

Nathanial took it and turned and nodded to us before stepping back into the spotlight. As he did so, a strong wave of vampire scent hit me, which made sense because I was standing with two onstage (Jared and Nathanial), not to mention the seven more that stood in the shadows at the back of the stage.

What didn't make sense was the sweeter, exotic tang that his scent had, compared to Jared's, or any other vampire I'd seen before.

Immediately, my Hunter brainhit defense mode and I took a step closer to Kain, standing in between him and Nathanial. Still oblivious to every thing going through my head, Nathanial turned to us before dismissing the assembly.

"Anything you'd like to add, Blackstone?" he asked, one golden eyebrow raised expectantly as he held out the microphone.

Kain sighed and stepped forward, his hands in the pockets of his faded holey blue jeans. He didn't look at Nathanial or take the microphone in his hand, instead he used his own naturally loud voice. "Alright, you all know classes start tomorrow, so don't be late. Stay _away _from the Ember dorms," Here he paused and glared out at the screaming Cinders, silencing them immidiatly before continuing. "Sneak out and you _will _be caught. You all know the drill." He shrugged his shoulders and glanced back at me. "Did I forget anything, Ray?" he questioned. I shook my head no in answer.

With a pleased nod and a smile directed at me, he turned back to the crowd again. "Now you're free to go, but if _any_ of you even _think_ about sneaking out, your dead meat, clear?" there was a pause as he let this information sink in before continuing. "There, your done. Get out of here already," He told them, and immediately the lights flickered on and chatter resumed as students began filing out of the building into the night.

The thought of the next part of my night made me cringe: Patrol.

Kain and I had to walk the campus perimeter and make sure nothing got in, or out, a vigil we were expected to keep up all night. Yippee.

Kain stepped off the stage and motioned for me to follow him out the door, almost all of the tension from earlier gone from his body and stance. I did as I was beckoned and followed behind him, falling into step beside him. I was pleased when I noticed how much easier it was getting to match his long strides with my own.

* * *

**Cut! and there we go, chapter 4. My beloved vampires have finally made their debut, so now I don't have to worry about that. What I do have to worry about is the fact that Nathanial is going to be staring me down even more than Kain does when it comes to getting stuff posted... Oh boy...**

**:P anyhow, as always review! Even more vampire Hunter action next time, I promise!**

**~Dakota**


	5. Sibiling rivalry

**Blood ties: Sibiling Rivalry**

**Well, here we go! round 5! thank you so much to everyone who's been sticking with us from the start! you have no idea how much i appreciate it! :3**

**I had this posted up earlier, but after reading through it again, decided that it needed a few, um, "renovations." so here it is again, edited and polished up!**

**~Dakota**

**

* * *

**

The sun was just beggining to sink below the horizion, painting the world gold as Kain and I started the long trek back to our dorms, the fireflies just beginning their nightly dancing above our heads. The sight of them brought back memories of happier times that had been long buried in the back of my mind, of happier times, before I was rudely awakened to the bloody path ahead of me.

Back then, Kain and I used to take butterfly nets and mason jars and would the little glowing bugs across the grass in front of his house, laughing all the while. A warm night like this one would have been perfect for it. Unfortunately that all ended one bloody august night four years ago, and Kain and I had been separated after that, forbidden to see each other.

Kain and I didn't talk much during the walk, but every time I looked at him in the golden rays of the fading light of the sunset, a weird feeling started up in my veins, like my blood was heating up or something. As we walked the last few steps through the garden in the Cinder courtyard, I made a mental note to talk to Uncle about making myself an appointment with a Hunter's doctor. (Hunters can't really go to normal human doctors. The amount of stamina and strength we have, as well as our speed, would probably baffle them and lead to a _lot _of testing, which would be severely inconvenient. It would make our jobs even harder than usual!)

After opening the heavy doors into the Cinder common room,I was surprised to see groups of Cinder students-some in pajamas, some in street clothes, either way all designer labels-all sitting around talking, trying to get out of having lights out. Kain was _not_ amused. "You've _got_ to be kidding me," he muttered under his breath grouchily. "We've got work to do! Do they really expect us to sit here and babysit a bunch of spoiled humans?" he growled to no one in particular.

I could understand why he was mad, really. Everyone was supposed to be in their dorm rooms getting ready to go to bed, not sitting here talking. And we certainly didn't have time to shepherd them around all the time either, what with patrol and getting minimal sleep already as is. "Hey, Kain-" I began, but when I looked next to me, Kain had somehow managed to vanish into thin air! "Come on, really?" I muttered to myself as I looked wildly around the room for my suddenly AWOL partner, unable to find him anywhere.

"Hey!" a severely familiar voice called from the center of the room. Kain had somehow managed to move across the room so that he was standing on a coffee table right in the middle of a group of girls! he called loudly. No-one even acknowledged his presence, and watching how annoyed it mad him made me laugh. I could almost see a blood vessel pulsing in his forehead, like an anime character!

"HEY!" he yelled out again, this time cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound. Almost instantly, everyone in the room stopped talking and turned to look at him, the expressions varying between annoyance and pure fright. It seemed Kain had quite a reputation for only the first day. They must have seen the whole scene at orientation earlier with the creep who tried to kiss me and the tension between him and Nathanial onstage.

"You're all supposed be in your rooms. What the heck are you all doing out here still?" He demanded angrily, his arms crossed across his chest. No-one said a word. You probably could have heard a pin drop. "Well? Get back to your rooms if you don't want detention!" he said crabbily. Still no-one moved. "_Now. _" He growled under his breath, underscoring his demand with one of his signature piercing glares.

The room emptied almost instantly as people went scrambling away from him towards their rooms. Once again, I couldn't control my laughter.

Kain just rolled his eyes before turning back to me, his glare gone, replaced with his normal steely emerald edge."Well, are you going to get ready or not?" He asked tiredly, one eyebrow raised in question. "Don't forget we have to be out of here ASAP. We've got a lot of ground to cover tonight."

"Right," I nodded as I started down the hall towards my dorm room, leaving him alone where he still stood on the coffee table.

My dorm room was oddly quiet when I got there. Mostly because the twins (especially Bunny) were both in their rooms with their doors shut. Despite this, I could here Bunny singing along with the tune of some bubbly Justin Beiber song at the top of her lungs, contrasting wildly with the heavy metal guitar riffs of some scream-o punk song coming from her twin sister's room. The two of them were truely a study in contrasts, and it made me laugh.

The twins had already moved into their rooms before I arrived earlier that day, but I had yet to see exactly what mine looked like. Knowing the Ashworth standards highlighted in every single building on campus, and in my own common area, I didn't know what to expect. So, after taking a deep breath and bracing myself for either extreme finery or a completely generic dorm room, I opened the door. Most likely, I was going to find the first one.

The room I found was more than even I expected to see. A huge, four-poster, queen size bed stood in the center of the room, only covered with a few sheets (no doubt made of Egyptian cotton or something fancy like that). A picture window about the same size as the one in the common area I shared with the twins stood behind it. The red curtains meant to veil its presence pushed off to the side letting in the last few golden rays of the fading sunset, painting my room gold with the last few glimmers of sunlight. A beautifully carved mahogany dresser stood off in the corner, its large drawers undoubtedly empty. A huge full-body mirror was attached to the back of yet another mysterious closed door, and a beautiful thick white Persian rug covered the floor with its softness, cushioning the sounds of my heavy boots against the floor. The walls were mostly red, interrupted here and there by a little random golden ornament. My suitcase, completely out of place with the décor, was leaned against the edge of my bed, placed there earlier by none-other than my partner Kain earlier that day.

I tossed my sweatshirt onto the blank white sheets and started rifling through my bag. Thankfully, I'd remembered to pack my own comforter in case something like this was expected. Unfortunately, it didn't really match this room's severely fancy standards what-so-ever. Nevertheless, I pulled it out of my bag and spread it out across the bed, its design of black roses and red swirls or a white background really the only chunk of home I had with me.

As quickly as I could, I tossed my clothes into the drawers of the dresser and grabbed my assortment of weapon belts out of the very bottom of my suitcase. I had a pretty good variety going with that, what with all my thigh-sheaths, thigh holsters, and of course, ammo-clips coating the bottom of my suitcase. After a few moments of indicision, I chose my favorite thigh sheath, the one that I'd gotten from my mother on my last birthday. Forged from the toughest steel on Earth and bound with thick leather straps, it was one of my favorite pieces,despite my brother Conrad's vehemet protests about the fact that his, ahem, "baby sister" was wearing a _thigh sheath _out in _public_.

Then I turned to my forgotten uniform, where it lay sprawled across my bed. I remembered I'd never really taken a very good look at it back in Uncle's office, and I did have to wear it now. I picked it up with a sigh and held the red plaid skirt against myself to check its length, which there wasn't a terrible lot of since it hit three-fourths of the way down my thigh, but I slipped into it anyway. A white long-sleeved button up shirt and a back jacked with the crest of Ashworth embroidered on the breast pocket completed the classic prep-school-girl look.

I quickly buckled my thigh sheath to my left leg for easier access to it and slid my new-found dagger into the steel sheath before rolling the black knee-high socks that came with the uniform up my leg. I passed on the regulation shoes that Uncle required all students to wear and grabbed my Hunter's boots instead before I ran out the door lacing them up on the way out. I quickly ran to the door and opened it before darting out into the hallway, stopped suddenly by what felt like a six foot tall brick wall of black fabric standing in the way.

"Slow down, Turbo!" Kain laughed grabbing me by my shoulders. Apparently he'd been waiting for me to come out outside my door. He let me go for a second and stepped back to look me up and down, taking in my new uniform. I could finally get a good look at him now, and saw that he was wearing the standard Cinder boy's uniform—black pants, a white button up shirt, and a black jacket—with a few twists. Kain being Kain, flat out refused to wear the uniform's other pieces: a black vest and a red plaid tie that matched the pattern of my skirt, but he did have a ruby red badge with a gold design of dancing flames emblazoned on it pinned to the left breast pocket of his jacket.

After a few seconds of looking me up and down, he smiled a little. "You're missing something Ray," he said as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a badge identical to his. "Hold still," He said as he reached out and quickly pinned it to my jacket, his face inches from mine. Against my will, I found myself blushing at his closeness, and I prayed he couldn't hear the sound of my heart pounding in my chest like a drum. "There. That's better," he said stepping back and admiring his work with a heart-breaking beautiful smile that scrambled my brains yet again. He had a real bad habit of doing that.

"C'mon, we better get to work," he said grabbing my hand and dragging me down the hall to a large window. He shot me one more smile before he swung the window open wide and climbed onto the window sill. Then he did the unexpected. He _jumped_, disappearing into the now ebony night.

"Kain? Kain!" I exclaimed, rushing to the window and staring out frantically, afraid that I was going to see him laying on the ground below broken and bloody.

Instead he was staring right back up at me from the gutter of the building below, his features painted with amusement. "What, did you really think I was going to just _fall_ like that? You insult my honor as a Hunter!" He laughed clutching his hand to his chest in mock indignation. I rolled my eyes in response, "Just don't scare me like that again idiot!" I yelled back at him, causing him to laugh again. "Well are you going to jump down here on your own, or am I going to have to catch you?" he called up to me. It was my turn to be indignant now.

"Like I'd let you! I can stand on my own two feet thank you very much!" I told him as I climbed up onto the windowsill. I wasn't too concerned about the fact that I was wearing a skirt as I did so, since I had spandex underneath. And without a second thought, I vaulted off the windowsill into the warm night air, intending to land a few feet away from Kain, who suddenly had other plans.

A few seconds before I landed, Kain darted over with inhuman speed to where I'd been expecting to land, and the next thing I knew, I was in his arms in a bridal carry. "Told you I could catch you," He murmured in my ear triumphantly.

"Point made, now would you _please_ put me _down_ already?" I demanded, cursing my blushing face and pounding heart. Thankfully, it was too dark for him to see my face…I hoped anyway.

"Fine, have it your way," he said with a shrug, setting me back on my own feet again. "Now, are we going to do this or not?" I asked him playfully as I walked to the edge of the peaked roof, leaving him behind me. "Huh?" he asked in confusion. I just rolled my eyes as I turned to look at him, a smirk on my face. "And here I thought that you would be able to keep up with me better than you could at the Academy," I laughed. Without another word I turned and vaulted off the edge of the roof, leaving Kain behind me.

I hit the ground below in a dead run and kept right on going, kicking my speed into high gear as I ran. I heard a light thump and suddenly Kain was next to me again, running along beside me. "Well would you look who finally got the message?" I laughed at him, dashing ahead. "It wouldn't have taken me that long if you'd given me a better hint!" Kain protested as he attempted to keep up. "A better hint? Maybe you should stop being so dense then!" I bantered back.

We went like this for a while, bantering playfully back and forth until we finally got to the Ember dorms all the way by the East gate and shifted into our posts: me standing up on top of the roof of the Ember dorms facing north, Kain right next to me facing south. As we stood there in silence, I kept turning the day's events over in my head. For a first day at a new school, it had been very very VERY weird. But then again, Ashworth _is_ a vampire/human school, and I _am_ a vampire Hunter so I guess it can't be helped.

After a few minutes of silence, Kain decided to head off and walk the perimeter of the Academy, and I was left alone on the roof. I kept staring around in the night, keeping vigilant as the night went on. Everything was quiet….mostly.

Suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move outside the gates, and it was way too big to be just some little bunny rabbit off in the bushes. Immediately I launched myself off the roof, onto a nearby tree, and over the tall wrought-iron fence, landing in a defensive crouch on the other side of the fence. Uncle's dagger was in my hand instantly, and it doubled almost instantly in my hand to a long sword with a wicked sharp tip.

"Who's there?" I yelled out into the darkness, my voice strong. "Either you come out so I can see you or I'll come in and get you!" I held my breath in anticipation, watching for any movement. A tall figure stepped out from a tree. "You're pretty scary Miss Guardian," the figure chuckled in a deep, definitely male voice. For some bizarre reason the voice seemed familiar to me, but I couldn't place where I'd heard it before.

"Who are you?" I demanded. "Identify yourself!" This apparently merited yet another chuckle from the figure. "What you don't recognize me? That's sad." I didn't say anything in answer, but instead tripled the length of my blade so that its tip was only inches from the figure's chest.

"Well, then I guess I better come out now, hmm?" The figure chuckled. "Wouldn't want Little Miss Guardian to spear me on the tip of her new toy. Alright, I'll come out…"

I tightened my grip on the hilt of my sword as I waited for the figure to step out of the shadows. I held my breath as he moved closer…

And then shifted out of my defensive crouch as quickly as I could. "Conrad? What the heck are you doing here?" I demanded. My older brother just threw off his head and laughed. "What, I'm not allowed to visit my baby sister?" he laughed.

I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms across my chest indignantly. "Not if you're going to scare me like that!" I told him crabbily, but all he did was laugh more and shook his head. "You really haven't changed a bit Raya," he said with a smirk. "So how long are we going to stand here yapping out here? Since when is it Uncle's policy to make his guests stand out in the cold?"

"Since when can said guests sneak up on people trying to do their jobs?"

"Terribly sorry Miss Gaurdian," Conrad said bowing low in mock-apology. "But it isn't my fault that you're about as observant as a goldfish."

I glared at my brother crabbily, and for the first time I noticed how my brother was dressed. He was clad in the standard Hunter's uniform: worn jeans, boots, a t-shirt that he'd probably been wearing for some time, and a long over coat. The silver hilt of a sword was barely visible at his waist, and a rifle was strapped to his back.

My brother was dressed for an Assignment.

And if his target was a student here, there was going to be trouble.


End file.
